Notice Me
by CatieBug14
Summary: Max is alone. Not physically. It's pretty hard to be alone when you've got five siblings and a close knit group of friends. But when the one person every child strives to impress (mom) doesn't give you a second glance, it's pretty easy to feel isolated. That is until an assignment changes her outlook on life, love and friendship forever. AU, AH. MIggy, Fax and other pairings!
1. Chapter 1

**Herroh** (pronounced _her-row_, _ah the joy of inside jokes)_! So this my second attempt at a FanFic. I didn't really like the way I started Picture This so I will be editing it and possibly reposting it. I feel pretty confident about this story though, and I'm excited to see where it will go. It is slightly based off of the Disney Channel Movie _Geek Charming_. Any who, thanks for giving my story a shot and please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride.

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**Max POV**

When most people wake up the sun is shining down on their faces from the window. They groan, sit up, rub their eyes and stretch before giving a content sigh and looking out the window with a small smile on their lips. Then they get up and wander down stairs into a kitchen where their dad is sitting at the table reading the paper and their mom is at the counter flipping pancakes on the griddle. They would sit down at the table and wait for their mom to wander over with a stack of flapjacks. Then they would dig in before going back to their room to finish getting ready for the day. After all that they would calmly stroll out the door and to the bus stop, but not before calling a lazy good bye to their parents. The bus would then pull up and they would stroll up the steps and sit down next to their friend who would then chat with them until they arrived at school.

An overall peaceful morning.

But like I said before, when _most_ people wake up that's what happens.

Let me clear this up now,

I'm not most people.

I woke up to screams, shouts and crying. Moaning, I shoved my face back into my pillow before finally sighing and dragging myself out of bed. Shoving my glasses on over my tired brown eyes, I glanced at my defective alarm clock. I swore then quickly stumbled over to my closet and grabbed a shirt, some jeans and a sweatshirt. Throwing them on, I power walked into the hall and into the bathroom where two of my siblings were already brushing their teeth. Ten minutes later I walked out with my dirty blond hair in a ponytail and a clean mouth and face.

Jogging down stairs, I narrowly avoided another one of my brothers before entering the kitchen. I didn't even bother shouting hello to my mom who was busy dealing with one of the twins, I just snatched a granola bar off the counter and sprinted out the door almost forgetting to grab my backpack before I left. Its not like she would have acknowledged me anyways.

I was almost to my bus stop when the bus pulled up. I put everything I had into the last few feet and just managed to slide onto the bus in between the closing doors. Letting out a breath of relief I slid into a seat and day dreamed for the remainder of the ride.

* * *

There was only one class I enjoyed at school, and I had been looking forward to it since freshman year. Creative Writing. It was the seniors-only English class that every wannabe author, poet, journalist, scriptwriter and songwriter wanted to be in. There were only two school hours that held creative writing so there were limited spots. The top ten students of each hour got to move on to Creative Writing Advanced at the beginning of the second quarter and if they kept doing what they're good at, then they got to keep their spot in the class. If you don't keep up, then you're sent back to normal CW and aren't allowed back into Advanced. You find out the first day of second quarter if you made it into Advanced. If you did, there would be an envelope with your new schedule in it inside your locker.

It was the first day of second quarter. I wanted that envelope.

I _really really_ wanted that envelope.

Writing was my life and the only thing I could see myself doing in the future that I would actually enjoy. Actually, it was the only thing in my future I would enjoy. But more on that later.

When I arrived at my locker I took a deep breath and forced down all my fears and worries and nervousness. I silently dialed my combination and opened the door.

A white envelope.

I felt all my anxiousness leave me in a great whoosh. I wanted to grab the envelope and do a happy dance, maybe kiss it a few times, but that would be totally out of character for me, not to mention embarrassing.

So instead, I calmly took the envelope out of my locker and tore it open. Pulling out my new schedule, I saw that only a few of my classes were switched around so that I'd still be able to attend all of them along with Creative Writing Advanced. Thankful that I was a senior and knew this school inside and out, I set off to my first hour class that was now science instead of math.

* * *

_This is it_, I thought as I walked into the classroom for Creative Writing Advanced. I sat down in a chair towards the back and pulled a notebook and pencil out of my backpack. I had learned during lunch that most of my close friends had made it into CWA with me, but the class I had before CWA none of them had with me so I arrived by myself.

I was chatting with Ella, a friend of mine who had just walked into the classroom when the bell rang and the teacher strolled through the door. Ella sat down next to me and we followed Mr. Abate across the room with our eyes. He set down his briefcase on his desk then turned to address the class.

"I know all of you, and you all know me. I am going to blindly assume that you all read the terms and conditions for being in this class that was in the envelope with your new schedule. If you didn't, I suggest you do. This class is going to be rigorous and demanding. Not only will you have to work on multiple papers at once, but throughout the rest of the school year you must continually work on a project that will be put into school wide, then state wide, then nation wide writing contest. I will pass out the rules of the project at the end of class. Until then…"

I didn't really pay attention after that. As excited as I was for this class, lectures aren't really my thing. I zoned back in towards the end of class when Mr. Abate began talking about the yearlong project again.

"The contests take place at the end of every quarter. So at the end of December we will hold the school wide writing contest. Only the top two stories will move on to the state contest at the end of March. Your topic will be the same for every contest, so essentially you will be writing a three-part story. Make sure you do your best at all times because there are other awards and prizes that go along with every contest besides just the overall winner. Any questions?"

A sandy haired boy that sat at the front of the classroom raised his hand. "What kind of prizes?"

"Cash and other fun things," Mr. A replied. That got my attention. My family needed cash and badly. I already knew I wasn't going to get into any college without a scholarship. And I'm assuming that by 'other things' Mr. R meant expensive products that I could easily sell. This project just got better and better.

A girl with large hazel eyes and wavy brown hair who I remembered from the previous quarter raised her hand. "What kind of awards?"

Mr. A glanced at a sheet on his desk before saying, "all types. Most romantic, most comedic, best fiction, best nonfiction. All of them will be listed in the packet I'm about to hand out to you." So saying, he picked up a thick stack of papers from his desk and proceeded to pass them out.

I got mine just as the bell rang so I just stuck it in my backpack with a promise to read it later. Ella and I had our next class together so we left the room by each others side and headed off to AP Spanish.

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I guess its time to talk about why I'm so in need of money. It starts with my father. He died in a car crash when I was ten almost eight years ago. My only legitimate sibling, Jacob, was four at the time, so he, my mom and I all spent a while grieving. Eventually we moved on, but I still can't help but feel that the crash was my fault, and _NO_ I do not want to talk about it.

Anyways, about a year and a half later my mom met another guy. He seemed nice and enough and eventually we moved in with him. His wife had died giving birth to his sons and my mom was more than happy to be an unofficial surrogate mother for them. Things were good until Ray lost his job and began coming home drunk. Then he started getting abusive on my brother and I. I did my best to take the most of it, but Jake always got hit a few times no matter what I did. Finally my mom found out and called the cops then dumped his ass. Ray was sent to jail and the twins were going to be put into foster care. They were only one year old and we loved them like they were our own flesh and blood so we kept William and Charles (or Will and Charlie). We didn't hear from Ray again and even though I still have scars from that bastard, all was good for the next three years.

Until _him_.

_He_ was an awful, conniving, good for nothing conman. That just so happened to make my mom fall in love with him. He stayed just long enough to rob us of everything we had before he left. Somehow he managed to leave us with his two children that we hadn't even known he'd had.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Ari and Maya, but if their father hadn't come around we wouldn't be in a lot of the trouble we are in now.

It's been a little over two years since that happened. I'm almost eighteen and Jacob is about to turn twelve. The twins are seven and a half and Ari is four. Maya is a few months away from turning three. My mom has basically sworn off men for good, but if we don't get a little financial help soon I don't know what's going to happen. Her job as a vet barely pays enough to keep a roof over our heads and food in the fridge. We are lucky enough that our neighbor, Mrs. Janssen, is willing enough to watch Ari and Maya while my mom is at work.

I bet most of you are asking what I do to help. I have a job at the mall working one of those little kiosk things. It doesn't pay much even with the few odd jobs around the neighborhood I do. My mom doesn't even realize I help pay the bills, Mrs. Janssen and I have an agreement that she'll watch the kids while I'm at work and in return I do her yard work and any other little errands she has. I wonder how mom thinks the extra cash gets into the money drawer in her room…

Now I'm not resentful of my mom at all. I recognize all the hard work and long hours she does to keep us where we are. I don't mind eating the reduced lunches at school or not being able to go out on Friday nights because I have to babysit my siblings (that's Mr. and Mrs. Janssen's date night). I just wish she would take a little bit of time when she's at home and sit down with me and ask me how I've been or what I've been up to like she does with all my siblings. That she would take a little time for _me_. But oh well I guess. I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Nevertheless, it is because of this that I have decided I will do whatever it takes to win the writing contest. I read the packet and the winner of the school contest gets a one thousand dollar cash prize. The state prize is five thousand dollars and the national? _Ten thousand dollar scholarship to the writing school of your choice._ If I win, not only am I helping out my family immensely, but I also have a chance at attending college in a year or two, a dream that was nigh on impossible just a bit ago.

Besides, maybe if I win my mom will actually notice me.

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Soooooooo… what'd ya think? I love reviews as much as any other person but I do not find them necessary to continue a story. So _reviews are appreciated but not required_. But yeah, **if you are curious about the story I'm thinking of getting a Beta**. I'm still not exactly positive on how they work but I'm sure I'll figure it out. So **send me a PM if you're interested**. Thanks!

-Catie


	2. Chapter 2

So I've decided to change the story a little. I've realized I have difficulty writing real long chapters every time. I can only really write long chapters when some major things are going down in the story. So I'm _going to try to start updating more often with smaller chapters_ and see if that makes it easier for me to write in between the big ones. Thanks for being patient!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

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Previously:

Max got into Creative Writing Advanced class and explained her family problems.

**Max POV**

It wasn't until the next day at lunch that I realized what I should write about. I was sitting at a table with Ella and we were just chatting about random little things when my best friend Gazzy plopped down next to me. He immediately began tearing into his club sandwich as I switched my butterscotch cookies for his chocolate chip. Talking pretty much ceased at this point as we were all concentrated on eating.

That is we were until they walked in.

They are the populars. Those who think they are all that when they aren't. The popular kids at my school are the kind of jocks and cheerleaders that actually have a few decent people amid their arrogant masses. The only one that never seemed to fit in right with them was Fang. Fang Walker. Sure he played a sport (I could never remember what one, nor did I care enough to remember), but with his all black attire and quiet demeanor he just seemed like a bit of a black sheep.

But apparently all the girls at this school love black sheep because he was constantly getting flirted with and asked out. Curiously enough, he never said yes to them.

I turned to Ella, "what do you know about Fang Walker?"

She gave me a strange look before replying, "not much. Quiet, possibly emo. His band is having a concert soon-…"

"Wait, he's in a band?"

"Yeah and they're real popular. From what I've heard he made it with kids from our junior high, but they ended up going to the other high school. All of them stayed close and kept their band going. Now they're real famous and I heard that they might have some record people coming to one of their gigs soon."

"Wow, how am I so out of the loop?"

"Because," Gazzy started, "you're always too busy writing to be social."

"It was a rhetorical question but thanks for the info Gaz."

"Anytime Maxie."

But what Ella said got me thinking. If Fang's band was as up and coming as she said they were than to be able to have their history and follow them as they got bigger would be a great story.

"Guys, I think I've got my story."

Now I just had to get the go ahead from Fang and his band.

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**Oh and fun fact.** I was at a church trip in June and saw the PERFECT FANG. He was h-o-t HOT! I found him on Instagram and he even had a pic of him with wings photo edited on! I about died. But then he died his hair red and now.. eh he's alright. Anyways, expect faster updates now. I might get one or two more up tonight. Thanks y'all! :)

-Catie

P.S. if you guys didn't understand the whole creative writing/creative writing advanced thing then tell me and I'll explain it again in the next authors note.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride.**

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It was late Friday night when my mom got home from work. I had just finished my math homework and was in the kitchen for a snack when she walked in. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were in disarray. She mumbled something unintelligible then walked past me and straight up the stairs. Seeing nothing worth eating I decided to follow her upstairs.

When I got up there she was walking into Jacob and the twins' room. Standing in the shadows by the door way I peeked in and saw her giving the three of them goodnight hugs and kisses even though they had been asleep for hours. I stayed where I was as she walked past me to mine and Maya's room. The same thing happened in here as in the boys'.

As she walked into her room she went straight to the bed and gave Ari his hug and kiss. The living arrangements aren't the best in our house, as you can probably tell, but we make do. She walked into the bathroom next so I sat down on the bed next to Ari and began smoothing down his wavy hair.

When mom came out of the bathroom I stood up and started walking towards her side of the bed. She lay down and pulled Ari to her side. I leaned down for a hug but she just reached through my arms, turned off the light, and shifted so her back was to me.

Love you too mom.

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I decided the best approach was a direct one when it comes to Fang. I found out when and where his gig was Saturday night and hoped that he would say yes. If he said I couldn't write about his band then I don't know what I'm going to do.

Ella picked me up fifteen minutes before the gig was supposed to start and we were on our merry way to the teen club where they would be performing.

We got there and Ella headed off to dance with a boy from her science class as I sat down at the bar. I ordered a cherry cola then turned to watch Fang's band play.

Now I, like any other teenager, enjoy listening to good music. The only difference with me is I don't know music terms. Like with guitars, there's only acoustic and electric as far as I'm concerned. _Note to self: if Fang says its okay, learn music stuff._ So as Fang's band came on stage I just sat back and watched.

Fang was the first to reach his place on the stage. His black hair swept over his dark eyes as he surveyed the crowd. In his hand he held an acoustic guitar. Behind him a boy with brown eyes and chocolate hair in a beanie was making his way towards a keyboard. I was surprised that his long legs didn't get tangled in the wires all over the stage. After him a blonde walked onstage with an electric guitar in hand.

The last two boys to get on stage were pushing and shoving each other good-naturedly. They headed their own ways as the blonde one sat down behind the drum set. The brown haired one set up an electric guitar I hadn't seen before. Those two were the farthest back and with my crappy eyesight I couldn't see them that well. But I could tell you this; they were all h-o-t, hot. And then they began to play.

Wow.

They played a number of songs before saying goodnight and walking off the stage. Now was my chance to go find Fang and his band and ask them. I tried to push through the crowd in front of the stage but there was no luck so I decided to try to slide along the wall until I made it back stage.

It took awhile but I made it. As I poked my head behind the curtains the only person I saw was Fang. His back was to me as he put his guitar back in its case. I was about to tap him on the shoulder when he said, "you shouldn't be back here."

Not expecting that I jerked my hand back so fast it hit me in the face. It hurt and I voiced my complaints.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"You did that to yourself."

"Yeah but I wouldn't have if you hadn't scared me."

"If you weren't where you aren't supposed to be I wouldn't have scared you." I huffed. This boy was impossible and I hadn't even asked yet. I'd probably want him in a slightly better mood if I were to get the answer I was hoping for.

"Whatever. Just wanted to tell you that you played great tonight."

"You snuck all the way backstage to tell me that?"

"Well, uh, not exactly." He caught me. Might as well just ditch trying to sweeten him up and get on with it. "Listen, Fang, I have a proposition for you."

He raised an eyebrow. I took this as a sign to go on.

"We both know that your band is doing great and going to go far. What I would like to do is tell your band's story."

"I don't understand how this helps either of us."

"For you, it gets your story out there. People will know who you are. It will help you get to the top." I knew I was pushing it at this point so I moved on. "For me, I get to write a great story, get an awesome grade, and possibly win some lovely prizes for said great story."

He stared at me for a moment. I subtly crossed my fingers behind my back. Then he replied,

"No."

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Yeah so as you can probably tell I really suck at describing people. Oh well. Reviews aren't necessary but appreciated! Thanks.

-Catie


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